


Left Breathless

by burbs, Townycod13



Category: South Park
Genre: Angst, M/M, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-05-31 17:09:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15124052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burbs/pseuds/burbs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Townycod13/pseuds/Townycod13
Summary: Art and concept by the amazing and talented Beeps.Kyle is afflicted by a rare and terminal disease. Desperate and at the end of his rope, he follows a bizarre lead in search of a cure.





	Left Breathless

**Author's Note:**

> Fic beta'd by Panaceaa the amazing!

 

Art and Concept by [Beeps](https://archiveofourown.org/users/burbs)

 

The flesh of a mermaid is said to grant immortality.

_ Every day, his skin peeling away as more and more coral corrodes and consumes, taking its place among his bone and veins. Soon. He didn’t have long _ .

At the very least, legend asserts that the ageless and eternal visage of a mermaid had to be explained somehow. A myth that relied entirely on the expression ‘you are what you eat’. Stories did exist of those that tested the theory.

_ Everything. He’d gone to every doctor, he’d seen every specialist, no one could explain the illness. There was nothing but to wait for the coral to reach his heart and end his life. _

They say an old man in fear of death lured a mermaid to land. They say he tricked her into trusting him and used that trust to bring her straight into his boiling pot.

_ The only answer he could find were ‘professionals’ that talked about curses. He could hardly take them seriously. Legends of a disease that could be passed down. It sounded like witches and wizards. Utter nonsense. _

When the old man had finished her, flesh, organs, and even ground her bone for good measure, it is said he was granted immortality.

_ He was desperate _ .

A story of victory over adversity, some would call it. One of hope, to others.

_ He’d chased every single lead that made any sense _ .

It only makes sense, just a slab of flesh, could probably heal a piddly disease. If, perchance, mermaids still exist--if they had ever existed--it was worth a try to the truly desperate and lost. Find the mermaid, peel away her flesh and consume her soul.

_ He was ready to chase ones that didn’t. _

What sort of consequences could there really be?

* * *

Kyle stood at the dock. This was ludicrous. He was crazy if he thought anything would amount from this folly. The water splashed mockingly below, swaying with the wind and the whims of the moon.

A fresh cascade of pain rattled his body, sending him to his knees with the reminder as to what he was doing at this ledge.

Desperation.

At this point in his disease, death was preferable to enduring this agony. Most days he felt like he was drowning anyway. The coiling within him wrapping around his lungs and restricting his air flow.

He lifted a shaky hand and stared at the pink poking just beneath the flesh. It was sickening, twisted, a coral growing and spreading underneath his skin.

The surgery was too dangerous, they said, it couldn’t be removed without taking his bones with it.

And not a single one of them could explain it.

Another wave below reminded him of the task at hand and he stood, only stumbling under his own weight a little. He knew this was a death sentence. He wouldn’t be able to swim in his condition.

He’d said his goodbyes. To his father. To his mother. To his brother. To his friends.

Kyle closed his eyes and tried not to think so much. Couldn’t he turn his brain off for a moment? Peace from his own inane yammering for five fucking minutes?!

Why couldn’t he just  _ shut up _ ?

He couldn’t, he wouldn’t, he’d be trapped with the voice within his own mind until the moment he died.

Something about that made walking off the pier easier.

At this time of twilight, no one took notice, no one saw him sink.

No one cared about him on this tiny strange island.

Kyle kept his eyes shut as he sank, the coral within weighing him down like lead. It felt relaxing, somehow, sinking without a care--

His lack of breath finally caught up, the remains of air in his lungs floating away in a cascade of bubbles. He could name each one, his hope, his dreams, his future, his accomplishments, floating away in array of air desperate to reach the surface. His eyes shot open.

The salt stung his eyes but he ignored it, arms clawing pointlessly at the escaping bubbles of air.

He couldn’t  _ breathe _ .

This was the point his life ended.

He wasn’t ready.

He’d never be ready.

It wasn’t  _ fair _ . It wasn’t like he’d done anything to encourage this rare and seemingly impossible body to infest him.

He’d done his best.

Despite his desperation, his descent only continued. He’d hoped--

It was insane to hope.

But he had hoped. On this pier. It was why he’d traveled all the way to this tiny island, rumors of something beneath the surface.

Rumors of something that could only be spotted at twilight.

He tore his darkening gaze around the empty water as it filled his lungs. His body. His soul. He was salt water and coral.

What was left couldn’t be Kyle.

He stopped moving. It hurt too much.

He didn’t want his last moments to hurt more than his entire being did.

A new blue entered his vision and he tried to gasp and only found more suffocation.

Blue.

Not the black of the ocean around him. The faint green edging the world.

Not the darkness taking him.

Blue.

His heart soared somehow, its last pleading pulses for life already slowing without oxygen.

They were eyes. Bluer than the world around him.

Coloring the water around him in a rainbow.

He couldn’t take in the rest of the picture. His eyesight was dimming and he took mercy on his abused eyes and let them hide behind the false safety of his lids.

Something soft touched his lips.

Suddenly the world swam into focus and he coughed.

He coughed violently, racking his entire body forward on the pier and coming out with it what surely was a whole swimming pool worth of water. Pieces of coral joined the vomit, taunting him, tormenting him, killing him from the inside.

When he’d finally stopped he looked around at the empty pier.

No rescuer.

No blue eyes.

Not a sign of life in the night air.

Kyle moved his focus to the calm water.

He’d swear he could see a ripple of movement.

His frail nails connected with the pulsating flesh of his hand, a grip that threatened to shake his world as he stared into the dark waters.

So the rumors were true.

He swallowed thickly and felt it grow across his face in a sinister glee. The manic smile of hope and scheming.

\--

The sunlight dimmed over the horizon but Kyle remained sitting stationary on the ledge. It was his fifth night waiting but he’d wait the rest of his damn life if that’s what it took.

It’s not like he had much life left.

He swung his legs out over the ledge and stared at the waters below. Waiting. Wishing.

They had to be down there. How else could he have been rescued? If it’d been a human they would have waited around.

On the other hand, a  _ creature  _ would run back into the darkness to conceal its existence.

That was fine. Kyle kicked the air absently, each stuttered movement caused another shattering pain from within but he relished in it.

He would shatter what was inside him. Eating him. Like a damn parasite.

No matter what the cost.

“I know you’re down there,” he spoke to the air, “I just want to say thank you. You saved my life.”

There was no movement on the surface aside from the gentle caress of the wind. That was fine. These things take time.

He’d said similar things on other days as well. Like he was casting a lure.

No one was listening.

He stared at the horizon long after the sun had abandoned the island for the night.

“I don’t have long. That was a stupid way to try ending it though.” he murmured, “Something quick or painless would have been better. Drowning is terrible.”

So painful.

The only reprieve was the blue.

He’d never forget the shocking blue.

“Your eyes are beautiful.”

His eyes widened and he clamped his mouth shut. He hadn’t meant to say that.

He looked around but the peace of the evening was still holding this space in time together, if only barely, and there were no prying ears.

What was the point of keeping it to himself then?

“I’ve never seen a blue like that,” he admitted, sheepish but honest. “It felt as deep as the ocean yet...” he looked towards the stars, “I guess it was closer to the sky?”

They had taken over the sky, an array of sparkles that promised eons of knowledge outside of his grasp. The sky was vast and endless, everlasting explosions of worlds unknown coated in the colors of darkening blue.

“If it was under other circumstances, I could fall in love with the color.” He murmured thoughtlessly.

There was the tiniest splash below the dock and Kyle startled so violently he fell over.

Great.

Water.

Kyle opened his squeezed eyes to see startled blues.

_ You-- _ he tried to speak through the water but found all it did was lose his air, and oh--he was sinking again.

Strong arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him up hastily.

The explosion of air on the surface was a welcome reprieve from pain but Kyle kept his eyes on the boy holding him up.

Golden locks framed the truest blue he’d ever seen and lips curled into a nervous smile but the similarities to humanity drifted from there.

He couldn’t help but notice the pink gills on his throat, the strange fins that extended where a normal person would have ears, the slits for nostrils rather than an actual nose.

He wasn’t looking at a person.

He was looking at a creature.

Words died away in his throat.

The creature trilled something, it sounded  _ chiding _ of all things, but Kyle wouldn’t be able to say what the strange inhuman sound meant.

“You’re the one that saved me.”

A sunshine smile consumed the face of his rescuer, revealing the jagged teeth of a predator and Kyle felt a wave of danger wash over him.

He didn’t feel scared though.

The secure grip on his waist hadn’t once faltered, holding him in placing securely, but gently. The eyes were a gentle blue that sparkled like the sky above, and smile spoke of an odd but genuine happiness.

Kyle swallowed thickly.

“Thank you.” He wished he sounded more grateful, but he was too overwhelmed with the sight before him

Not that the creature seemed to mind, it chittered something happily and then  _ nuzzled  _ his cheek. He jerked away but that didn’t dissuade the creature, now swimming slowly towards the pier.

In one smooth motion Kyle was placed securely back onto the planks and the creature stared at him from below, still smiling and chittering, only now it was wagging a finger as if to firmly establish that he was to  _ stay put _ .

Or maybe it was intended to warn him against falling to his death again?

Kyle smiled weakly, “I won’t. I’ll be good.” Not that it made much of a difference.

Clearly it made a difference to the creature though, it clapped its hands cheerfully and gave the sauciest wink Kyle had ever seen in his entire life.

Then it dove away, swimming deep beneath the surface, a large orange tail propelling it forth.

Kyle stared at the creature until it had long departed eyesight.

“...Did a fish just hit on me?”

\--

Today, he remembered his goal.

Kyle plopped down on the pier long before his normal time and toyed with the knife hidden in his coat.

He needed a pound of its flesh.

It was the only way to live.

Unease ate away at the parts of his heart that hadn’t been eaten away by the disease. Memories of its smile, smarmy wink, and kind rescues.

It wasn’t human, he reminded himself. It didn’t even speak.

Though it seemed to understand him just fine.

_ Regardless _ , Kyle desperately clung to the notion that it was a fish. Just a fish. He’d eaten a lot of fish in his life.

This was just another fish. A bizarre one with an almost human face and beautiful eyes.

Something splashed and Kyle was made aware that the sun had descended by the sight of the golden haired creature that had just made itself known, resting it’s arms languidly on the pier next to him.

“Inguid k’mor.” It gurgled in greeting, cheerful and careless.

Trusting even.

Kyle gulped, releasing his grip on the knife. Another night maybe.

“Ingid kumor.” Kyle tried in return, perfectly aware that whatever he said sounded very little like what the thing had.

It earned him a giggle though and Kyle stared in fascination as the creature made tittering noises that could only be signs of amusement.

“Ha ha.” He shot back when the creature had more or less subsided it’s mirth, “At least I tried.”

It nodded thoughtfully, an expression of interest crossing over it’s inhuman features. Finally it lifted a finger and pointed at Kyle.

“What?”

It pointed again and then shrugged, as though that would ease communication.

Kyle took a wild guess.

“My name’s Kyle. What’s yours?”

It smiled and Kyle knew it was the right answer. Whatever it garbled out next on the other hand? Deciphering it would require a linguistic capability that wasn’t in his box of tricks.

“I’m sorry, what?”

It frowned, looking a bit put out. Kyle didn’t want to admit that the monstrous creature almost looked cute pouting over the language barrier.

He also felt vaguely like he’d kicked a puppy.

“Try again a little slower. I’ll listen carefully, okay?”

It nodded and Kyle couldn’t help but ponder how it seemed to have such a functional grasp of English but no ability to speak it, “Na’ad ji K’nnyth.”

Kyle took this apart, “Nad?” he tried.

Whatever he’d said must have been terribly amusing because it broke into giggles with a head shake, lifting a finger to point at its face and speaking even slower this time, “K’nnyth.”

“Kenneth?” The pronunciation was different but it was the closest approximation Kyle felt his vocal cords could manage. Perhaps that was the creatures limitation with English. He just didn’t have the right biology for it.

It.

Not he.

It’s a fish.

Not a person.

The knife weighed in his coat painfully.

‘K’nnyth’ mused for a second before nodding, as though he understood that might be the best it got.

“Can I call you Kenny, then?”

To his surprise, the offer of a nickname seemed to actually brighten the world behind its eyes, tail splashing behind him as he nodded in excitement.

“Ky!” It cried in response, clearly lost in his present joy.

Kyle winced at the nickname, he really didn’t care for people trying to shorten his already short name, “Kyle.” he corrected.

The tail ceased splashing in elation but that was the only sign Kenny’s happiness had dimmed, “Kyru?” it tried.

Kyle thought long and hard about how little he wanted to be called ‘Kyru’.

“Ky’s fine,” he said finally and got another peel of laughter from the creature. He had half a mind to wonder if the wild mispronunciation had been done on purpose.

“Na’ad jin root.” Kenny burbled, turning his head to face he stars beginning to twinkle overhead, “Ky ji resh’um.”

Kyle, despite his earlier and continued failures, decided to give it another shot, “Kenny jii rechum, too. I guess?”

The tittering little giggles tickled the air around them and the night descended fully, the expanse of sky lighting the paradise the world felt like, in just a moment.

A shockwave of pain had him double forward, fingers digging into the deck and a coral growing, expanding, taking and taking and taking his flesh, his bones, his heart, oh god, was this it, would he die? An agonizing pain in his left arm shot away his sense and he reached to touch what was blood.

He stared in horror at the liquid before bring his gaze to the pink coated in red now extending from his arm.

It had breached his flesh.

A gurbling noise finally reached his eyes and he looked, terrified, into the fearful blue that saved his life.

The eyes that were full of concern and hands that were patting him down for injuries, cooing around the expanse now pushing out of his epidermis.

The weight of the knife was as painful as the sharp throb in his arm.

Kenny touched his knee, chirping and tittering and confused.

Kyle smiled darkly, “It won’t be long now.” He looked at the coral, heart having dropped somewhere to his feet, “I’m going to die.”

It, the creature Kyle had come all this way to kill, gasped in horror and said things far too fast for Kyle to ever have a hope of translating.

“Don’t worry about it.” Kyle assured, realizing the distance between them was small. The creature had half pulled itself out of the water to assess the injury, realizing if he took out his knife now, Kenny might not even have the time to bite him in retaliation.

“Cr’nat!” Kenny protested, “Cr’nat, nava, tib!”

Fish don’t cry. No point. No reason to keep the eyes moist.

Kyle stared into the perfect blue and wondered if this creature did.

He pushed away a worried hand that had rested on his arm and stood up shakily, creating some distance.

Not tonight.

He’d eat Kenny tomorrow.

Not tonight.

“I’m--going back.” Kyle choked on the words, looking away, “Will you be here, if I come back tomorrow?”

A little twist of terror in him hoped the answer was no.

“Nee!” Kenny promised, nodding emphatically.

Kyle nodded and walked away.

He didn’t look up to the sky above as he walked, eyes locked with the concrete that told the story he couldn’t.

People walked on land. People owned the land and walked upon it without a care for the meaning of solidity beneath their feet. Without the knowledge of what it could be to sink forever.

Sinking in pain, sinking in death, or sinking in guilt.

Sinking below the path and consuming the person that wanted so badly to live long enough to walk a step further.

He stumbled but caught himself, eyes still firmly on the earth.

It was ridiculous to put it off. This was his only hope left and ultimately, no matter how charismatic ‘Kenny’ might seem, he was just a fucking fish.

It.

It was just a fish.

Kyle swallowed the doubt the bubbled beneath his heart.

\--

“Ky! Na’hr ji uresh?”

Kyle felt like his ears were becoming more accustomed to the strange language that was tittered at him nonstop, he took a seat at the dock and guessed the meaning of the greeting through expression.

“I’m okay.” He smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring fashion, but who could really define reassurance in a world like this, “As okay as I can be, at least.”

“Na’ad jin couran!” Kenny cried and there was such heart in it that it hurt to hear, a clammy hand wrapped around his wrist and persistent eyes pushed for an answer, “Na’hr ji uresh?”

Kyle placed a hand on the cold fingers and held onto the comfort that was there. Over the course of the day he’d had more spores burst. He’d called his doctor and from what he’d learned, it really was at its final stages.

“Maybe a week.” He smiled but it was watery, like the world around them on an empty pier, “Maybe less.”

Kenny was silent, fingers clenched around his wrist with a firm terror and unyielding concern. The true blue looked up and locked with Kyle’s own.

He didn’t bring the knife today. Tomorrow, he promised himself, was the day he would stop with this foolishness and take what he’d come for. So tonight was his last night to spend with the comforting grip of a strange creature from beneath.

“It’s okay.”

“Cr’nat.” Kenny responded.

“...Thanks for caring, by the way, I have no idea why you do.” He looked to the purples of the dimming sky and away from the face filled with emotion, “You don’t know me and I don’t know you and I’m pretty sure you’re something out of a fairytale… but you really seem to care? That means something to me.”

It really did.

It was why he had chosen to take this final night for goodbye.

“Hey, I know I can’t understand you, but why don’t you tell me about yourself a bit? It feels unfair that I do all the talking.”

_ Talk me out of what I’m going to do _ .

Kenny tugged his wrist and he finally looked back down to see the emotions he’d dreaded written on the strange face.

Gently and slowly, Kenny shook his head with a small but sad smile. Without breaking eye contact, he released Kyle’s wrist and wrapped his arms around his waist. For a heartstopping second, Kyle wondered if he was going to be pulled down to drown, but something wet rested in his lap and he looked down.

Kenny was hugging him while resting his head on his hip, eyes shut away and mouth a firm line of determination.

“Cr’nat.” Kenny said, softly, “Ky ji resh’um.”

Kyle hadn’t the faintest clue what was said but it was said with such heart he couldn’t help the way his leapt to his throat, hand hesitantly mingling with the locks of golden hair atop Kenny’s head.

They sat there in complete silence and it took hours before Kyle realized the horrible sound of his own questioning interrogations had quieted in his mind. The silence had given him peace.

In the light of early dawn, to the sound of a gurgled language, Kyle sobbed uncontrollably while clutching the creature that held him in comfort.

\--

Kyle limped his way to the dock.

It was his last day. He could feel it. He’d put it off too long.

His body was covered in the sores now and his heart was slowing in the approach of death, whose footsteps followed him everywhere.

Today he would kill and eat the creature that was his only hope.

The gentle sound of the grim reaper held his head high and he held the handle to his weapon of choice until he saw the ocean grow close.

His leg didn’t want to move anymore. The growth had made its way clean through, consuming the bone and feeding on his blood.

Tonight.

The sun was already a shadow on the horizon when he reached his normal spot but the deep sea creature was nowhere to be seen.

Something inside Kyle panicked.

Something inside Kyle rejoiced.

“Kenny?” He called, more than a little hopeless, as he fell more than sat in his normal spot. “You out there?”

There were no splashes and no movement and Kyle laid back on the wood, swearing he could feel the silhouette of death hanging over him.

This was fine.

If he died here, awaiting a fickle ocean creature, looking up at the cloudless sky, he was okay.

“Ky?”

The voice was soft, pained, and close. Kyle opened his eyes and wondered when he’d closed them.

Kenny had beached himself completely onto the pier. He was defenseless and worried. If there ever was a time to do what he’d chosen, now was it.

Kyle lifted a heavy hand and moved it to the familiar handle fo the hunting knife.

It had been a gift from his father, a reminder to take what he could in life, to always fight to the death. A symbolic gift.

Kenny watched with impassive eyes as Kyle removed the weapon from the confines of his coat, and in a flicker of emotion, Kyle wondered if his intent was understood.

It didn’t matter though.

Kyle closed his eyes and reared his arm back, tossing the knife as far as it could go. A splash was what informed him he could now open his eyes.

The wide blue that had rescued him stared at him in wonder, as though he were the fascinating one, and gentle but cool hands cupped his face, “Ky…?”

Kyle smiled, sincere but pained. He wasn’t ready for death. Especially not now.

“It’s okay.”

He wasn’t ready for life as a monster either.

Kenny shook his head vehemently and Kyle knew he spotted tears forming, “Cr’nat!”

“No, really, it’s okay.” Kyle laughed but the sensation reverberated with the coral that had already taken his ribcage and shattered him inside, just a bit more.

It was always just a bit more.

“Ky…”

“Hey, Kenny, I have a crazy request.”

He cocked his head adorably and Kyle felt bitter at the entirety of reality.

“Kiss me?”

If the creature had eyebrows, Kyle was sure they would have hit his hairline, Kyle chuckled at the comical expression.

It was a silly thing, a small thing, but it was one thing sure to take his breath away. And if his life was to take away his ability to intake air, he’d like to do it on his own terms.

“Please?”

The clammy cold that connected with his lips was familiar in a strange way and Kyle smiled, just a little, knowing that it was always borrowed time.

Without the kindness he could feel here, the warmth of a heart he’d just met, he would have already sunk to the bottom of the ocean in agony.

Kenny pulled away, eyes closed with a painful expression and forehead resting on Kyle’s, “Nava shi.” He choked on the words, sounding like a plea, a prayer, beggin for an answer, “Ky, ma’at.”

“Sorry,” Kyle closed his eyes, unsure how to finish, wanting to lift his arms in a hug but not having the strength.

The hands that held his face brushed forward, pulling his head into an awkward hug and shaking, “Cr’nat.”

“It’s okay.”

The blue of the sky was massive and endless, stars sparkled with depths unknown and Kyle felt his heart lose the last of it’s strength under the strain.

“Thank you.”

  
 

 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Underwater Lovers](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15809694) by [MinightRose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinightRose/pseuds/MinightRose)




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